Irene has made her way to an area 15 miles south-southeast of Atlantic City, N.J., and is expected to pass near New York City to the east before bearing back inland across southern New England, according to the latest bulletin from Miami's National Hurricane Center.
Irene now bears maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and is moving north-northeast at 18 miles per hour.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for areas as far north as the south coast of Nova Scotia. "Interests elsewhere in eastern Canada should monitor the progress of Irene," the NHC bulletin said.
Sunday, 8/28/11 2:26 AM/ET: Irene Cuts Power to 20,000 NYC Customers
The early rains of Hurricane Irene have cut power to almost 20,000 customers in New York City on Sunday.
According to Consolidated Edison, Staten Island was the hardest hit borough with 8,402 homes and businesses without power, while Queens and Brooklyn both had between 3,000 and 5,000 experiencing blackouts. Just 15 customers in Manhattan were without power at 2:01 a.m. EDT.
In all, nearly 2 million customers are now without power in the northeast, with the biggest outages reported by Dominion in Virginia, where 820,000 customers are without power, followed by Baltimore, where nearly 300,000 BGE (Constellation) customers are without power, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center says the eye of the storm is now about 195 miles (315 km) south-southwest of New York City and is moving north-northeast at 17 mph (28 kph).
Saturday, 8/27/11 11:52 PM/ET: NYC Transit Shutdown Complete
New York Transit officials say they have now completed the shutdown of the entire system of commuter trains, buses and the subway, according to the AP. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said it had secured all its equipment and sent all its employees home in an unprecedented shutdown of the largest transport network in the United States.
It's unclear when the system will run again. The MTA says even if damage is minimal, restoring service "will be a lengthy process." And flooding, mudslides, fallen trees and downed power lines could dramatically complicate the work.
Mayor Bloomberg warned a few hours ago that the outer edges of Irene had reached the city and it was no longer safe to be outdoors.
Saturday, 8/27/11 7:42 PM/ET: Update - ConocoPhillips Will Shut